Leica APO-Telyt-R 1:2.8/280mm

The Leica APO-Telyt 2.8/280mm (non-modular) broke new ground in the long
telephoto category when it was released in 1984. Its apochromatic
correction made it possible to achieve high overall contrast and
crisp rendering of fine detail already at wide open aperture. In
terms of sharpness, the lens was simply outstanding.

In MTF tests undertaken by
Lars Kjellberg
of Photodo
during the late 1990s, the 2.8/280 mm achieved the highest
score among all of the nineteen 280-300mm lenses that were
tested (see adjacent diagram for details). Similarly, the French
photo journal Chasseur d'Images awarded its highest 5-star
performance rating to the APO-Telyt-R after assessing the image
quality at full aperture to be very good in the image center and
good at the borders, and stopped down to be excellent in the
center and very good in peripheral image areas.

MTF (sharpness) ranking of 280-300mm lenses[photodo.com]

Concerning secondary lens traits, the 2.8/280mm shows
modest amounts of vignetting of about 0.6 f-stops at full aperture.
This light falloff is reduced to about 0.2 f-stops,when the aperture
is closed to
f/4. The lens produces very little distortion of about 0.3 percent
that is not relevant in practical
use.

Up until its replacement by the
APO-Telyt-R 1:2.8/280mm
Module
in 1996, the lens was sold with front and rear caps, a lens
carrying strap, a pistol stock to
facilitate hand-holding, a screw-on front protection filter, and an aluminum case. A later version of
the lens, which was marketed from 1992, can also take Series 5.5
filters through a drop-in filter drawer or a special
polarizing filter holder. Optically, the two
versions of the lens seem to be identical.

The APO-Telyt-R is fully compatible with Leica's 1.4x and 2x
APO-Extenders, giving rise, respectively, to 1:4/400mm or
1:5.6/560mm optical systems. Like all R-system lenses, it has to
be focused manually and does not benefit from any image
stabilization mechanism. This absence of autofocus and in-lens stabilization can make it challenging
to use the 2.8/280mm for action photography.

Lens specifications

The lens-body is a Leica-typical, high
quality, all metal construction. The core specifications of the lens
are as follows:

Leica order number 11245 (early version) or 11263 (from 1992);

aperture range from 2.8 to 22;

effective focal length of 277mm, with a diagonal angle of view of
8.8;

weight of 2,750g (6.1 lb.) for the early version, 2,800g for the later version.

The lens comes with a built-in, sliding lens hood and a built-in
tripod mount that can be rotated. However, unlike many other
tripod collars, the 2.8/280mm can not be locked into any
position, but only into a few places around the dial. This lack
of flexibility is unlikely to be a major issue for sport
photographers, but can become a serious annoyance, if the lens is
used on a tripod on uneven ground, for example, during wildlife
photography.

There is, of course, only so much words and technical reviews
can do to describe the quality of a photographic lens. In the
end, the image rendering capability has to be the decisive criterion. Examples of pictures taken with the lens can be found
on several locations on the web, for
example, here on
flickr.

Leica APO-Telyt-R 280mm FAQ

Some users have suggested that the APO-Telyt-R is not a true f/2.8
lens, since both the R8 and the R9 meter it as f/3.4 wide-open. This
peculiarity seems to be related to the absence of a half-stop detent
between the f/2.8 and f/4 markings, while these half-stops are
available for all other aperture intervals. The lack of the
intermediate stop apparently disturbs the metering of Leica's
SLRs. If the lens is attached to a digital camera instead,
it can be shown that the 2.8 f/stop lets in twice as much light than
at f/4, thus demonstrating that the maximum aperture opening of the
lens is indeed f/2.8.

Below are some additional issues and questions that have been
encountered by Leica shooter's with corresponding responses or
suggestions.

Does the use of a protection filter degrade the image quality of the 2.8 / 280mm?

The lens is sold with a front protection filter and the latter has been taken into account when designing the optics.

Why do images from the lens wide-open seem overexposed when taken with an R8 or R9?

There is no half-stop detent between f/2.8 and f/4, which leads Leica's SLRs to meter the lens erroneously as being a f/3.4 wide-open. Hence, the exposure on these cameras should be adjusted by half an aperture stop to avoid overexposure.

How does the image quality of the non-modular and the modular APO-Telyt-R 280mm f/2.8 compare?

The color and out-of-focus rendering is similar, but the newer, modular lens is even sharper than its predecessor [psquared].

Can the APO-Telyt-R be used on a Leica S-series medium format camera?

Yes, there is an adapter made by Michael Leibfritz that
makes it possible to mount an R-system lens on a Leica S. The image circle of the lens will
cover the full sensor area.

How many copies of the 1:2.8/280mm were produced and sold?

A total of about 3,000 serial numbers were assigned by Leica to the lens [leica-wiki].